but
for :Present
= "If it were not for..." veya, Past = "If it had not been for..." deyişlerinden kısaltma
sayabilirsiniz... Türkçe'ye "eğer olmasaydı" yada
"sayesinde" gibi anlamlarla çevrilebiliyor:

My family
helps me a lot. But for their help, it would be very difficult for me to keep
up a decent standard of living. = If it were not for
their help... Ailem yardım ediyor, eğer etmeseler...

The
accident delayed us. But for the accident, we would have arrived on time for
the performance. = If it had not been
for the accident... Kaza olmamış olsaydı, geç kalmazdık, kalmamış
olurduk...

But for his
love for Şirin, the ordeals he went through would have been unbearable for
Ferhat.
(ordeals = çileler... unbearable = çekilmez, tahammül edilmez)

But
for the expression "but for", I would not have been able to form
these fantastic examples! (Bu
örneği, Tip II ve III bir arada olarak değerlendirin: "Bu deyim
olmasa, bu şahane örnekleri oluşturamazdım/oluşturamayacaktım !!"